The NFL believes the Chicago Bears will be fun. That’s what Wednesday’s 2025 schedule release told us.

Actions speak louder than words, and the league gave Ben Johnson’s Bears at least three prime-time games and five exclusive nationally televised windows. There’s also a rare Central time afternoon slot for the Bears-Dallas Cowboys game, which, considering the opponent, will be seen by most of the country.

In sum, the league believes in what the Bears have done. They hired Johnson to be their head coach. They stacked their offensive and defensive lines via trades and free agency. And then they added offensive playmakers in the NFL draft to help quarterback Caleb Williams improve in his second NFL season.

The Bears should be competitive, far more than they were during a 5-12 campaign in 2024 when the wheels fell off. That will depend on coaching, improved play and how they navigate a schedule with 11 games against 2024 playoff teams.

We’ve gone over the 2025 slate and identified some trends and possible pressure points where the Bears must persevere. Let’s go over a few of them in this 2025 Bears schedule breakdown.

Get by the way-too-early bye

The Bears’ bye comes in Week 5, the first time that teams are eligible for an open date. That’s way, way, way too early. The Bears will play 13 games in a row after that, and they don’t have a Thursday night game where they can have a mini-bye after playing on a short week.

That grind will test the Bears’ depth and resolve, especially when they have a four-game stretch played in outdoor stadiums — and likely in cold weather — against the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns and Packers again.

A bye around midseason is ideal. A Week 5 break, though, is far too early.

Navigate a rough road stretch

The Bears better be ready to go coming off the bye. They’ll play six of their next nine games on the road, with five of them against 2024 playoff teams — the Washington Commanders, Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings, then the Eagles and Packers. The Cincinnati Bengals are the other road opponent, and they’re always tough.

That will be the defining stretch of the season. We’ll see if the Bears can emerge from that gauntlet both healthy, and with enough wins to be in playoff position, that final stretch of the season should be fun.

Fast start is vital

The Bears will go through some growing pains as they adjust to new offensive and defensive schemes. It’s also entirely possible Johnson will have some game-management hiccups in his first season as head coach.

There’s little margin for error off the top, though, with NFC North games against the Vikings and Detroit Lions to start the season. Then the Bears will host the Cowboys and visit the Las Vegas Raiders before heading into the bye. They simply must emerge from that at .500 or better.

Make Soldier Field a fortress

The Bears’ home schedule is far easier than their road slate, with teams such as the New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants coming to Chicago. They must use home-field advantage well and beat teams with less talent.

The Bears will have tough games against their division rivals and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Soldier Field, but they’ll need to beat the teams they should to get a good thing going.